Judge allows evidence against Jimmy Roman Rosario of Springfield, excluded in state court, to be used in federal drug case

File photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanJimmy Roman Rosario, of Springfield, is seen in Hampden Superior Court on drug charges in 2009. A case is now proceeding against him in U.S. District Court in Springfield.

After nearly five years of arguments in two separate courts, a federal judge recently ruled that $2 million in cocaine and a loaded gun excluded from evidence by a Hampden Superior Court judge in 2008 may be introduced by prosecutor’s if Rosario’s case goes to trial in U.S. District Court this year.

Rosario was arrested and charged with drug trafficking in 2006 after a police informant tipped investigators to an alleged stash of drugs at his Putnam Circle apartment. However, the surveillance and arrest happened so quickly, according to police reports, that it prompted a defense lawyer to raise questions about the legitimacy of a sworn statement submitted to obtain a search warrant.

After a series of evidentiary hearings in state court in 2008, Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty II issued a stinging ruling accusing state and local police of painting a bogus picture of their investigation and threw the guts of the prosecution’s case out: 17 grams of cocaine recovered from Rosario’s bedroom and a loaded gun.

Then-Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett defended the integrity of the investigation and denounced the hearing, but was nonetheless forced to dismiss the case against Rosario. Law enforcement officials across the region also decried Moriarty’s decision while defense attorneys lauded it as a brave move.

Before Rosario, also known as, “Fat Back” was released, however, federal prosecutors picked up the case and indicted him in that venue – thus exposing Rosario to a potential life sentence.

Late last year, evidentiary hearings commenced in federal court with defense lawyers hoping for an encore of the events that unfolded a few blocks away in another court two years earlier. Rosario himself took the witness stand to that end, allowing Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd E. Newhouse to quiz Rosario about whether he believed someone broke into his home and planted drugs in his closet.

“No, sir,” Rosario answered during a hearing in December.

U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor on Feb. 18 issued a ruling denying the defense motion to exclude the evidence once again on credibility grounds.

Public defender Syrie Fried did not return requests for comment on the case.